Expectations
by stripesthetiger11
Summary: Alphys waits excitedly for her new coworker at the lab. Howeve, upon meeting him, he turns out to not be all that she had expected. That doesn't mean things can't still work out for the better, though. A request.


**This one comes from lickupmycakespills on Tumblr, who asked for some niiice good 'ol fashioned Salphys.**

 **Request: yo, you know what would be really cute? a fluff fic for salphys when they first meet or something =)**

 **My girl, I am here to deliver. Enjoy.**

* * *

Alphys hummed to herself nervously, skittering her thick fingers nervously over his desk as she checked to make sure everything had been picked up and cleaned off. She had never been a particularly clean individual, but when it came to meeting her new co-worker, it was important to keep up appearances. She smiled slightly at her rather impressive clean-up job, a bit proud to have straightened up so well. Sweeping the last bit of dust off the desk, she sat down at her computer, beginning to pretend she was doing something important for when the new guy came in.

The Head Royal Scientist and her boss, Dr. W.D Gaster, wasn't always keen on hiring new employees due to his expectations ranging higher than Ebott himself. Because of this, company wasn't very common within the workplace, and Gaster wasn't too fond of slacking off. He was good for the occasional casual conversation over a nice cup of coffee, but that was really it. Alphys herself had been the last scientist ever accepted into the Royal Science Division, and the hoops she had to jump through to just accomplish the entrance exam was nearly enough to break the young lizard monster in two. This new colleague would have to be exceptionally intelligent to prove to Gaster he could handle the stressful duties that befall the royal scientists.

Alphys could picture this monster now; tall and thin with knowledgeable eyes rising just above a pair of wire framed spectacles. Perhaps he would specialize in studies of the soul, Gaster's own field. Magic was another field that needed some attention. Alphys let herself become hopeful, her mind bringing up the suggestion that this new scientist possibly specializing within the study and experimentation of programming and robotics such as herself. Maybe, just maybe, he would have an interest in humans, a subject that even Gaster didn't want to waste time in if it didn't involve their souls. She knew she shouldn't get her hopes up, but wouldn't it be just grand to be able to have an interesting conversation with someone with a topic outside of her assigned studies? They would talk for hours upon hours about the subject, eventually getting closer to one another until they were best of friends. Maybe even more than friends. They would soon date and inevitably get married. By then, the barrier will undoubtedly have broken, and so they would live happily ever after, sharing a domestic life with their three children that they would raise and watch grow up into adults with kids of their own as they aged together and-

Okay, that escalated rather quickly. Alphys felt the all too visible blush appear on her cheeks when she realized she had been writing all this down on her computer. How embarrassing was this?

The young scientist leaned back in her seat with a sigh, trying to get herself to relax for once. She had always made a fool of herself before, so she was just hoping this time would be different for her. The new monster would come in, they would greet each other in an adult-like manner, they would become colleagues, they would make out in the closet where-

Whoa there, Alphys. Letting that imagination get the best of you, eh? It was best if she actually get to work on some important work assigned for her before she began to write some fanfiction about her own work fantasies. However, as she was setting a hand on her mouse, another hand covered hers, stopping her in her tracks.

"Wait wait," came a voice uncomfortably behind her. "I'm getting to the good part; don't change it yet. 'And that's when he will propose to me in our quiet little cottage we had for a few good years, cherishing m-'"

Alphys couldn't help the squeal that left her throat as she scrambled to throw the hand off and quickly delete the document, spinning around in her desk chair to face the monster to nearly give her a soul attack.

This monster that had intruded on her 'work' was a skeleton, the first surprise to Alphys. According to her knowledge, skeletons were an almost extinct race of monster, Gaster being the only one she had met, much less personally knew. And yet, here he was, though he didn't much look like she would have imagined. Unlike the thin, tall, and frail frame most would associate with a skeleton, this one was about her height and was more rotund in the torso. From what she could see of his of his hands and skull, his bone structure was rather thick, even 'big boned' if you will. His permanent expression was turned upwards to a grin while his sockets showed amusement, the small eyelights glowing back at her dimly from within those deep abysses. She would have probably smacked him in the ribs with whatever she could grab had she not noticed the lab coat draped over his clavicles and torso, which were covered by a light blue sweater.

"A masterpiece," the monster chuckled. "Ten out of ten. Would read again." It took a minute for Alphys to register he was talking about her most embarrassing entry into her computer, and before she could even muster out a response, the skeleton stuck out a hand. "Anyways, hey. The name's Sans. Sans the Skeleton. You're Alphys, right?" The female monster in question gave a hesitant nod, returning the gesture. She was about to make a remark when she was surprised by the sudden sound of imitated flatulence coming from her palm. A quick recoil revealed the culprit. "The ol' whoopie cushion in the hand trick," Sans snickered. "They always fall for it." He tucked the gag away, looking back up at Alphys. "So, you're the lizard my dad likes to talk about, huh?"

It took Alphys a bit to register the question, and even longer to give a straight answer. "Your dad?... you mean Dr. Gaster?" she questioned. He stuck both hands into the pockets of his coat. "Yup. The old man himself. Who else? Well, anyone else and it'd be pretty weird, dontchya think?" He walked over to another desk chair opposite to hers and collapsed in it. "So what? Dr. Gastly doesn't ever talk about his spawn? Figures."

As if on cue, Dr. Gaster himself appeared through the sliding metal door, straightening his lab coat. He looked up at the pair, a hint of surprise appearing in those deep sockets of his before a small smile appeared on his skull. "Ah, I see you've met Sans, yes?" he acknowledged, striding over to the two. "Sans, this is my assistant, Alphys. Alphys, this is my son, Sans." Well then, this situation now had a bit more weight to it. Calling this offensive, unfunny, uncharismatic sloth of a monster just what he was would undoubtedly cast a bit of bitterness from the good doctor. Not wanted to be in his wide circle of distaste, she forced herself to swallow the mountain-sized pill and straightened herself.

"Wh-why yes, we've already met. We've already gotten rather acquainted with each other," she informed, a bit of a stutter to her voice. Improvisation wasn't really her strong suit. "I-I'm sure we'll be great colleagues within the future, without a-"

"You don't have to lie," Sans interrupted, kicking up his feet on the desk as he let out a slight chuckle. "He already knows how punny I can be. He's kinda my dad after all." Well, that just knocked all the breath right out of her. She gave a look up at Gaster, who just gave a sort of amused smile at the two of them. "Alphys, I assure you my son is a brilliant scientist mind, as you will see," the doctor explained. "He is going to be working within the field of-" please please please please please please "-quantum physics, as well as helping me in my studies of the soul." Nooooooo. Well, any chance of a decent friendship was going straight into the trash.

Sans looked over at his new companion and gave her that grin that was already starting to grate on her nerves. Alphys took her eyes off of the sloth and looked up at Gaster, a bit of a pleading expression across her face. He gave her a sort of sympathetic smile and gave her a pat on the shoulder as he passed by. "Go easy on each other, you two." And with that, he exited the room and passed into the main lab, humming a tune to himself as he left.

The second that Gaster had disappeared behind the doors, Alphys gave a small huff and went back to typing on her computer. Sans did the same, working on his computer and such. At least he had stopped fooling around. Alphys got a bit of work done here and there, typing up programming code and making sure there were no more bugs in the system. After a good ten minutes, she looked back at the short skeleton to check on what he was working on at the moment. It was just a bit of curiosity. To her slight surprise, he seemed to be stuck on the startup screen; a black screen filled with various bits of code here and there. He wasn't filling out any of the code, though. He sort of just looked at it. Odd but not exactly attention grabbing, she looked back at her computer, deciding it safe enough to grab one of her human comic books and look through it. While most of the Underground had an air of resentment about them, Alphys couldn't help but find them simply fascinating. These, ahem, "history books" were always a favorite of hers. Of course, they'd have to go under a different name just to be able to get past Gaster.

After a few monochrome pages in, her reading was interrupted by throat clearing behind her. She let out a little sigh and quickly stuffed the book into her inventory before turning to look at Sans. "Y-yes? How may I help you?" she asked politely, hoping this wasn't another stunt of his to get another laugh. Instead, what she got was a bit of a sheepish, maybe even apologetic expression on the skeleton. "Heya… I'm having a bit of trouble getting my cpu to start up. You're good with this kind of technology, aint cha?" Alphys looked over to see the same black screen lined with code. She had forgotten his specific computer had been having a few problems in the last few months, since it was mostly unused. She had been meaning to work on it for a bit, but with her work on the Undernet and the lack of other scientists, she'd never really gotten around to it. She was a bit surprised, though, seeing as Sans was Gaster's offspring. While she was a bit annoyed with him, she wasn't the type to hold a grudge, especially over something so insignificant. She nodded and stood up, going over and pulling the keyboard to her so she could get to typing.

Silence reigned over the lab, save for the taps of the keyboard and a quiet hum in Alphys' throat of a song she had once heard. The computer was rather easy to fix once you get down to it. "You're pretty good at this," she heard the skeleton murmur, causing her to pause and look over at him. "O-oh, it's nothing," she stuttered, smiling a bit. "I-I assume you're not too good with cpus?" Sans gave a small shrug, but nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. I'm more of a… quantum physics kind of monster. Dimensions and timelines and whatever. It's my dad's specialty." He looked up at Alphys with a slumped figure. "You probably know about that, huh? How many forty minute lectures about string theory have you been caught in so far?" Alphys couldn't help but cover her mouth with her fingers as she attempted to hold back a smile.

It was true that Gaster could go on and on about the subjects that intrigued him, but as her superior and accomplice, she always heard a few of these a day. It made her wonder what it was like even living with him. "Yeah, I've heard a few," she murmured, glancing down at him before she resumed fixing the cpu. They had both gone quiet once again. It didn't stay that way for long, however.

"Hey… sorry for being all the funny stuff I pulled before," Sans suddenly piped up, catching his coworker's attention. She gave a slight "hmm?" in response, urging him to elaborate. His permagrin was once again looking a tad sheepish. "You know, reading your work, teasing you, the whoopie cushion. I can't really help myself," he grinned. "I guess you could say I have a bit of a funny bone." Alphys had to hold in the giggle that wanted to erupt from her mouth. "It-it's fine," she dismissed, giving him a small smile. "I guess I don't have much of a sense of humor myself. Call it a side effect of being around Gaster for so long." Sans couldn't help but nod in agreement, looking back at the screen. "Ho yeah. Him n' his lectures and experiments can really work you down to the bone." He snapped his skull back just to give Alphys a knowing wink before turning his attention back to the monitor. Alphys couldn't help the flood of giggles that spilled from her mouth at his actions. While she wasn't much for puns or jokes, Sans was somehow able to get them to work. Apparently the skeleton in question was a bit proud of this, for his grin only grew wider as he looked away from the screen for a bit.

Deciding that they had experienced enough delays, Alphys finished up the coding and got the computer starting up again. "There," she said, resting a hand on the bulky monitor, "all done. Now you can resume your work." Sans seemed to light up more at the fix, which only served to make the scientist feel delighted. "Thanks doc," he beamed, getting a feel around his computer as he already began to explore the various applications. "You're the best."

Alphys couldn't help but feel a bit bashful at his praise. She looked away, giving a light smile. "O-oh, it was nothing," she simpered. "Just a bit of programming work. A-anyways, you should get started on your work for Dr. Gaster. Quantum physics, was it?" Sans paused, as if taking a brief moment to think something through. "Yup," the monster confirmed. "He wants me to write up a basis for quantum theory in relation to pneumatology. Y'know, the study of the soul and whatnot." He let out a small sigh in preparation for the work ahead. "So much work, so little time, and only twenty letters in the alphabet just to get my thoughts down."

Alphys was about to wish Sans luck and dismiss herself, but she paused upon hearing her colleague's small error. "Twenty letters? There are twenty-six," she corrected. Sans blinked in surprise, before showing an expression of mock realization. "Oh! Yeah, duh. Sorry. I guess I was forgetting about the letters U, R, A, Q, T."

Confusion bubbled in Alphys' mind as she tried to process what Sans was even talking about, but it soon hit her like a pile of bricks. Laughter exploded from her as she doubled over, using the desk as support. Sans watched in delighted glee as Alphys laughed harder than anyone had ever had at one of his crummy jokes. Alphy's laughs soon devolved into giggles, but she couldn't help the snort that sounded when her giggles wouldn't cease. She covered her mouth in surprise in order to catch the long gone sound, but her giggles could still be heard muffled by her hand. "Whoa, was that a snort?" Sans asked, giving a few chuckles himself. Alphys turned her head away in a coy manner as her giggling finally slowed to a stop and her hand was removed. "Y-yeah," she mumbled, still unable to keep that smile off of her face. "Sorry, I do that sometimes." Sans just shook his head, dismissing her apology. "No no, don't apologize; I like it. It's kinda cute."

Alphys felt her cheeks heat up with magic as she looked down at him, looking for any signs of bluff or mockery, to which she found none. "Th-thanks," she murmured bashfully, her hand coming up to cup her warming cheeks as he averted her eyes once again. Never in her life did she ever think she would be called anything even relating to the word "cute" that didn't come from her parents. Was this the part where she had to compliment him back, right? Wasn't that how it worked? But what would she compliment? His bone structure? His puns? Yes, tell him he's funny; that'll work and won't make her look like a complete fool.

"You-you're cute, too, I-I guess," she sputtered; her eyes immediately widened at what she had said. Well, it was final. She was doomed to die alone. Good job, Alphys. Good job. Sans sat back in his chair, the tops of his sockets raised some. "Cute, huh? Well, I've never been called that before. Thanks, I guess." Well Alphys, your work here is done, she thought. Now all you have to do is take all your stuff, walk out of the lab, and keep walking until you fall off the path and into the lava. That's the only way to save yourself now.

But first, there was one last thing she needed to address.

"That's only twenty-five letters," she forced out all of the sudden. Sans gave a little "hmm?" as he looked up at her with questioning sockets. "Y-you only gave me five letters. There are twenty-six and that rounds up to twenty-five," the monster elaborated, feeling as though she would melt under his gaze. After a brief look of pondering, he suddenly sat up straighter with a more jovial grin. "Oh yeah! That's right, I am missing one. Don't worry, though, I'll give you the D later!"

Alphys had to cover her mouth from the sheer shock of his response. She forced herself to look away and scramble back over to her computer, covering her heated face as she heard Sans crowing with laughter behind her. She slumped forward in her seat, trying to get herself to calm her face down. She didn't look back up until she heard Sans' laughter die down and to hear typing take place.

She sat up and slumped in her chair, her mind reeling. After a few good minutes, she decided to get back to work, taking a few glances back at Sans, not knowing that he would occasionally glance back at her as well.

Perhaps working with him wouldn't be so bad after all.


End file.
